The Grove Street Families, also known as The Families, Groves or GSF for short, are a Los Santos based street street gang that appears in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto V. in GTA San Andreas, it is the native gang of the protagonist of the game, who eventually becomes a high-ranking co-leader. The gang is led by Sweet and Carl Johnson, and are heavily involved in the criminal underworld of Los Santos and San Andreas.

In Grand Theft Auto V the gang is associated with Franklin, one of the main protagonists of the game, and his friend Lamar tries to reconvect him into a small time street criminal and also maintain their traditional rivalry against their old enemies the Ballas.

History

The formation date of the Grove Street Families is unknown. However, it is said that they are one of the oldest gangs in Los Santos. Since the Ballas formed in the 1970's, this puts the formation of the Grove Street Families to the 1960's or earlier. It is very likely that they were formed in Grove Street, Ganton due to their name. The Grove Street Families have a history of a traditional, intense, and bloody rivalry with the Ballas. Specifically when the gang war started is unknown, but the rivalry between the two gangs was in full swing as early as 1987.

The 1987-1992 period saw the Families begin to lose ground to the Ballas who became heavily involved in the drugs trade. Many OG's and high-ranking members were killed at this time - including Big Devil, Little Devil, and Tony as well the younger brother of Sweet and CJ - Brian Johnson. Sweet, remained adamant in his objection to the Families becoming involved in the trade. Big Smoke, a high ranking member, began to see the fall of the gang and the potential for power, influence and money the trade could bring. He secretly formed a business deal between the Ballas, Los Santos Vagos and the corrupt Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums department of the LSPD for drugs and crack-cocaine, while remaining involved in the Families to pass on information about their activities. Just before CJ's return in 1992, Big Smoke was also able to influence Ryder about the money and power that they could make from drugs. OG and high-ranking member B-Dup also becomes involved in the drugs trade and turns away from the GSF and gang-banging - while high-ranking OG Big Bear becomes a weak and hopeless crack addict and house slave of B-Dup.

The Grove Street Families were originally one large gang during the late 1980's. However, during the early 1990's, they split off into different "family" sets. This included the "Seville Boulevard Families", the "Temple Drive Families" and the "Grove Street Families". The primary reason for the split was due to the weakening of the gang by the Ballas and Vagos - causing the Grove Street Families to become unstable, and also because of differences in relation to the drugs trade as Sweet and the original Grove Street Families set in Ganton were against drug dealing.

The Grove Street Families also maintain an ongoing rivalry with the Los Santos Vagos and the Varrios Los Aztecas. The reasons or date for their feud with the Mexican gangs is unknown. It is likely due to territorial reasons due to the close proximity of East Beach (Vagos territory) and Ganton (GSF territory) and also because, like the Ballas, the Vagos are a significant factor for the spread of crack-cocaine - which the GSF are against.

Prior to 1992, the Grove Street Families also controlled parts of southern East Los Santos and Idlewood before been taken by the Ballas. It is also likely, but unknown if they controlled Willowfield due to Emmet's presence there.

Events of GTA San Andreas

The Grove Street Families are in a sorry state upon CJ's return in 1992. Repeated pressure from the Ballas and Vagos, the breaking up into different rival sets, their unwillingness to keep up with changes to make money or gain respect (refusal to sell drugs), and the heavy influence of crack cocaine in their territory has led to their downfall into the weakest and least influential gang in Los Santos.

The Ballas, however, continue their assault by attempting to take control of Ganton and Grove Street itself but fail as CJ, Sweet and Grove Street members are able to successfully defend their territory. The Families are also successful at crashing a Ballas funeral in which many high-ranking members and OG's who attended were killed - including Kane; an influential and high-ranking member of the Front Yard Ballas. Later, during the mission "The Green Sabre" the Grove Street Families and the Ballas engage in a gang war under the Mulholland Intersection. However, Sweet is hit and arrested, then taken to a prison-hospital; while CJ is abandoned from Los Santos and warned to stay away from Grove Street by CRASH. Big Smoke and Ryder have now completely defected to the crack-cocaine trade and away from gang-banging at this time. This leaves the Grove Street Families with no leaders or influential members/OG's.

During this time, the Families lose all of their influence and essentially become inactive. They become subservient to the Ballas and Los Santos Vagos. The Ballas then resume the spread of crack cocaine into Grove Street and Ganton again. Members of the Families are either dead, in hiding or are turned into hopeless crack addicts. The Ballas then eventually control the entirety of what had been GSF territory - including Ganton and Grove Street, Playa Del Seville, Temple, Vinewood Cemetery and Santa Maria Beach, they also recapture back Glen Park. Family members that do remain are forced to run drugs between a drugs factory in Doherty, San Fierro back to Los Santos for Big Smoke. Carl, after becoming a leading criminal figure in both San Fierro and Las Venturas, returns to Los Santos to take control of Madd Dogg'smansion. While at the mansion he is contacted by undercover government agent Mike Toreno, forwhomhehadpreviouslyworked, and steals a military jet and destroys five spy boats. Carl manages to perform the task and is rewarded by Toreno with the release of Sweet.

If the player wishes, they can take over all territory from the Ballas and the Vagos through teh gang war mini-game - making the Grove Street Families the largest and most powerful gang in Los Santos.

Description

The Grove Street Families are a street gang that are easily identifiable by their green gang color. They are involved in gang-banging, street violence, murder, gang warfare, vandalism and arms dealing. They can be found walking and driving around their territory - often seen smoking marijuana, drinking malt liquor and talking in groups. Like the other gangs, the Families will often flash their gang hand-signs as a form of representation. They also mark their territory with graffiti. Upon spotting a Balla, Vago, or Azteca gang member (especially Ballas) - they will often react with hostility - usually resulting in a street-fight or a fire-fight/shoot-out.

They are depicted as more honorable and traditional then the other gangs of Los Santos. Refusing to adapt to changes in the city - they are quite stubborn. Primarily due to Sweet, they refuse to sell drugs (especially crack cocaine) because Sweet believes it ruins the neighborhood and causes members to be influenced by money, bringing them away from gang-banging. This puts them at a massive disadvantage to the other gangs who are able to make massive profits by selling crack cocaine. However, some OG's are thought to be heavily involved in the PCP business.

On the streets, the Families are either unarmed or carry the 9mm pistol. Upon completion of "Robbing Uncle Sam" for Ryder, the Families begin carrying the TEC 9 submachine gun. In missions, they can be seen carrying the micro-SMG sub-machine gun. If all tags are sprayed by the player in Los Santos, the families replace the Tec-9 and 9mm pistol with the knife, Deagle and the MP5.

As with the other gangs in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the Ballas have three different skins that walk and drive around their territory. These include:

The first member is slighlty overweight, wears a green sweater, black khakis, white sneakers and a green bandana.

All Family sets are allied and all fall and operate under the "Families" card while sharing similar traditions. Likewise, all sets wear green and are all sworn enemies of all Ballas sets. During the beginning of the game in 1992, the sets are not on good terms with each other but eventually reunite.

The difference between the sets are initially based off of different approaches to the drugs trade. The Grove Street Families are against the trade of crack cocaine - where as the Seville Boulevard Families and the Temple Drive Families weren't. However, upon unification; the crack cocaine trade amongst all sets stops and the differences from that point primarily rely on territorial differences. The Grove Street Families set is initially the weakest set during the beginning of the game, but eventually becomes the most powerful and active set throughout the game. The Grove Street Family set is the native set of CJ, Sweet, Big Smoke, Ryder, B-Dup and Big Bear. Sweet leads the set. The leaders of the other sets is unknown; however, Sweet resumes leadership over the other sets upon unification.

Brian Johnson: Hang-around/new member before death. Younger brother of CJ and Sweet.

Barry "Big Bear" Thorne: OG and well-respected member due to physical strength. Turned crack addict during early game which turns him into a weak and hopeless addict. Eventually beats crack addiction and re-joins the GSF towards the end-game.

Mark "B-Dup" Wayne (formerly): OG and well respected member. Defects from gang-banging and GSF and focuses on drug dealing.

Emmet: Weapon supplier and sssociates primarily with the Seville Boulevard Family set.

Jeffrey "OG Loc" Cross: Associate, wannabe-member and friend of many OG's including leaders Sweet and CJ. Jeffrey grew up on Grove Street but lacked the physical capability or mentality to join the Families.

LB: Supplier/Associate and friend of Ryder (although not physically seen, he was mentioned multiple times by Ryder).

Three Deep: Possible associate or member (although not physically seen, he was mentioned once by Big Smoke).

Trivia

The original beta name for the gang was Orange Grove Families. Beta graffiti around South Central Los Santos referring to the "Orange Grove Families" and the "OGF" still exist. Likewise, CJ can get a tattoo on his upper back in Los Santos that references the "Orange Grove Families". CJ will also sometimes shout out phrases related to the "Orange Grove Families" and the "OGF" during a fight.

In the beta version of the game, the Grove Street Families looked different

An additional two Grove Street Family members/skins can be seen during the mission cutscenes of House Party and Los Sepulcros. It is unknown why they do not appear on the streets, though mods for the PC version exist to make them appear.

The rivalry between the Grove Street Families and the Ballas is loosely based off of the rivalry between the Bloods and the Crips in Los Angeles. Violence between the two gangs hit a peak during the early 1990's - largely due to the crack cocaine epidemic. A situation mirrored in early 1990's Los Santos.

Many members are seen wearing basketball jerseys, green bandanas, green hats, sweatshirts or plaid button-up shirts.

Possibly a coincidence, but in GTA IV groups of men wearing outfits similar to the Grove Street Families can be seen in some locations around Liberty City.